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Strange Name, Beautiful Place
by Johanna Congleton
Dolly Sods North, an area recently added to the Monongahela National Forest in the
eastern part of West Virginia, looks more beautiful than it sounds. Named after the German
"Dahle" family, who settled there in the mid-1800s, it is composed of huge
"sods" - open areas with low shrubs - and extensive wetlands and bogs. The
meandering forks of Red Creek, a prime candidate for wild and scenic river designation,
also grace the landscape. Dolly Sods North, adjacent to the Dolly Sods Wilderness, is
replete with miles of recreational trails, scenic overlooks and blueberry sods in the
unspoiled upland headwaters of Red Creek.
Although the area is 6,200 acres and should be preserved by President Clinton's wild
forest protection plan, local activists fear it will not be included.
"As of now, only inventoried roadless areas are being considered for protection
under Clinton's plan," said Jim Sconyers, the Sierra Club's West Virginia Chapter
director. "Dolly Sods North was not included in the last land inventory, so we are
worried it will be overlooked."
To make matters worse, Dolly Sods North does not have a management plan outlining how
the area can or cannot be used, meaning it's "up for grabs" and open to
destructive activities such as natural-gas exploration. The Forest Service has also
proposed bringing in heavy trucks and bulldozers to repair erosion and dump lime in Red
Creek to counteract the effects of acid rain.
Sconyers argued the best way to protect the area from future exploitation and
development is to add Dolly Sods North to the adjacent Dolly Sods Wilderness. Today, less
than 9 percent of the Monongahela National Forest and only 0.5 percent of West Virginia is
designated wilderness.
"By including Dolly Sods North in the adjoining wilderness, nearly 20,000 acres of
the best wildlands in West Virginia will be permanently protected, as well as nearly all
of the Red Creek watershed," Sconyers said.
To Take Action
Urge Rep. Alan Mollohan (D-W.Va.) to protect Dolly Sods North through wilderness
designation. Write: Rep. Alan Mollohan, c/o Dolly Sods North, P.O. Box 95, Davis, WV
26260.
For more information contact Jim Sconyers at (304)
789-6277; jims@wvsierra.org.
Texas Turtles Snared by Shrimpers
by Johanna Congleton
The Kemp's ridleys are the world's most endangered sea turtle species. And they are
washing up dead along the Texas coast.
In 1999, 95 Kemp's ridley sea turtles and 212 loggerhead turtles (federally listed as
threatened) were found stranded on the coast of Texas. The vast majority had died. The
cause? Shrimp-industry practices are the main culprit, according to scientific studies by
the Sea Turtle Stranding and Salvage Network.
Turtles easily become entangled in shrimping nets and struggle until they drown.
Shrimpers are required to place flaps on their nets, called turtle excluder devices, which
allow turtles to escape. But few wardens have the authority to enforce the use of these
devices, making it easy for shrimpers to ignore the law. Also, sea turtles are often
snared by the nets more than once and become too fatigued to escape.
In response, the Sierra Club's Lone Star (Texas) Chapter is urging the Texas Parks and
Wildlife Commission to make its shrimping regulations more sensitive to sea turtle
populations. Brian Sybert, the chapter's natural resources director, said the Club is
calling for larger no-shrimping zones along the Texas coast. Shrimping should be banned in
waters less than 7 fathoms (that's 42 feet deep), and restricted from Padre Island
National Seashore beaches to a depth of 10 fathoms (or 60 feet) during the Kemp's ridley
nesting season.
Second, the Club is pressing Parks and Wildlife to help pay for the cost of monitoring
sea turtle strandings, deaths and nestings along Padre Island Seashore. Finally, the Club
is pushing to increase the number of game wardens with the authority to enforce the use of
turtle excluder devices.
To Take Action
Please write to the Parks and Wildlife Commission and urge the agency to implement the
three measures listed above to restore endangered and threatened sea turtle populations.
Contact Robin Riechers at the Coastal Fisheries Division, Texas Parks and Wildlife
Commission, 4200 Smith School Road, Austin TX, 78744; robin.riechers@tpwd.state.tx.us. Also
write to The Honorable Lee Marshall Bass, Chairman, Parks and Wildlife Commission, at the
address above. For more information: Contact Brian Sybert at bsybert@igc.org;
(512) 477-1729.
Utah Bill Not Wild Enough
by Johanna Congleton
There's a wilderness bill on the table for Utah, but it doesn't protect nearly enough
land or keep what it does protect safe from all destructive activities.
Last October, Rep. James Hansen (R-Utah) introduced H.R. 3035, the Utah National Parks
and Public Lands Wilderness Act, a bill to designate wilderness on Bureau of Land
Management and National Park Service lands. Unfortunately, Hansen's proposal protects less
than 40 percent of the existing 2.6 million acres of wilderness-quality land in the West
Desert. To make matters worse, while he hasn't supported the Hansen bill outright,
Interior Secretary Babbitt has endorsed the inadequate acreage covered by the proposal.
Not only does the bill exclude crucial wilderness-quality areas, it specifically denies
water rights held by the federal government necessary to protect and sustain fragile
desert wilderness. The bill would also allow the U.S. Air Force to use the wilderness
lands and grant it unrestricted access to the air space above.
To Take Action
Urge your representative to oppose H.R. 3035. Express disappointment in Babbitt's
support of the wilderness designation of less than half of the qualifying wilderness lands
in this part of Utah. Also, call the Office of Environmental Quality at the White House
(202) 456-6224 to say you oppose H.R. 3035.
For more information: Contact Lawson LeGate at (810) 467-9294; lawson.legate@sierraclub.org.
Land Fund Compromised by Oil Drilling Incentives
by Jenny Coyle
The Sierra Club has a love-hate relationship with H.R. 701, the Conservation and
Reinvestment Act, which may be voted on by the House as early as April.
The Club is pleased that the bill would fully and permanently fund the Land and Water
Conservation Fund, a critical tool in preserving wildlands. The fund is supposed to
receive revenues from offshore oil and gas leasing to be used for the purchase of
wildlands, but most of that revenue disappears into the Treasury. This bill would
guarantee $900 million for the LWCF annually.
The bad news is that H.R. 701 contains language that threatens sensitive marine and
coastal areas, especially in Alaska. It creates an incentive to pursue off-shore oil
development by allocating "coastal impact aid" to a few coastal states based
largely on the amount of oil drilling that takes place off their shores.
Actions to amend the bill on the House floor are critical if we are to protect our
coasts and secure important conservation funding.
To Take Action
Contact your representative and urge him or her to support H.R. 701 - with amendments
that will ensure the bill causes no environmental harm. Also ask him or her to fight
efforts on the floor to weaken the LWCF. Write: U.S. House of Representatives, Washington,
DC 20515.
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